Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with treatments for glioblastoma.
One such method of treatment is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,945,563, issued to Auf Der Maur, et al., entitled “Method for treating glioblastoma using antibodies binding to the extracellular domain of the receptor tyrosine kinase ALK.” Briefly, these inventors are said to teach an antibody specific for human ALK (Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase), in particular a scFv, a nucleic acid sequence encoding it, its production and use as a pharmaceutical, for diagnostic purposes, and the local treatment of glioblastoma.
Another method is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,518,698, issued to Sugaya, et al., entitled “Method of promoting apoptosis of glioblastoma tumor cells.” Briefly, these inventors are said to teach a method of promoting apoptosis of human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor cells. The method is said to comprise: isolating GBM tumor cells from a human brain biopsy specimen, isolating human neural stem cells (HNSCs) from the biopsy specimen, transforming the isolated HNSCs with an operative PEX gene, and exposing GBM tumor cells to the transformed HNSCs to promote apoptosis of the tumor cells mediated by the expressed PEX gene.
Yet another method is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 7,931,922, issued to Newmark, et al., entitled “Methods for treating glioblastoma with herbal compositions”. Briefly, these inventors are said to teach methods for treating glioblastoma, by administration of a composition comprising therapeutically effective amounts of supercritical extracts of rosemary, turmeric, oregano and ginger; and therapeutically effective amounts of hydroalcoholic extracts of holy basil, ginger, turmeric, Scutellaria baicalensis, rosemary, green tea, huzhang, Chinese goldthread, and barberry. It is said that this composition modulates gene expression of genes selected from the group consisting of interleukin-1α, interleukin-1β, heme oxygenase 1, aldo-keto reductase family 1 member C2, colony stimulating factor 3, leukemia inhibitory factor, and heat shock 70 kDa protein.